Understanding Primary Care

Mariella has a great request

We should consider putting together such a collection to broader use.
I have some basics at
http://www.unmc.edu/Community/ruralmeded/fedstloc/primcare.htm


Dear Dr. Bowman,

I always enjoy your contributions to the health-prof listserv!

My name is Mariella Mecozzi and I am in charge of career pre-professional services at University of Michigan. I was hoping you could direct me to some on-line resources, articles, etc. that may help me educate my students on primary care issues. We have a very large pre-medical student body. In fact, it is not unusual for us to have as many as 600-700 students applying to medical school on any given year. However, because we are part of such a large and prestigious research institution, our pre-medical students don't always contemplate the full range of options available to them when pondering their medical career. I am often presented with the scenario of students "knowing" that they want to specialize in something although they cannot quite articulate "why".
I fully realize that some articles or a couple of Internet links are not going to resolve this situation, but it is my hope that along with panel presentations, some shadowing experiences, some facilitation of mentoring relationships, some additional resources in our library, we may be able to broaden some of these limited perspectives.

I manage a very large list serv for our pre-medical students. It would be great if periodically I could post some primary-care related articles, facts, statistics, trends, opportunities for summer employment, etc. Should you run into anything like that--suitable for a pre-medical population--please consider forwarding that information to me. I would be particularly interested in receiving "positive" articles. I try to keep my eyes open, but usually what I run into are the articles on how certain specialties offer better lifestyles than primary care, or on the high job turnover for physicians in managed care settings. It is not my intention to present a skewed view of reality, but I also feel that in order to promote something, I need to be able to present what's special, precious and rewarding along with what may be challenging and difficult. :-)

If you also have any other suggestions as to how I can attempt to increase primary care awareness among my pre-medical students, please let me know. I have a limited budget, but if there are books that you would particularly recommend or programs that my students could join for the summer, please let me know as well.

There is absolutely no rush to this request. I realize you are a very busy person so I will appreciate whatever assistance you may provide whenever that will be feasible for your schedule.

Cordially,

Mariella Mecozzi

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Mariella Mecozzi
Senior Assistant Director of Pre-Professional Services
The Career Center--University of Michigan
3200 Student Activities Building
Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1316
Ph: 734-764-7460
Fax: 734-763-9268
mmecozzi@umich.edu
http://www.careercenter.umich.edu